Overhead haulage system for mine tunnel or mine passage installations



Apnl 13, 1965 H. v. HENDERSON 3,

OVERHEAD HAULAGE SYSTEM FOR MINE TUNNEL OR MINE PASSAGE INSTALLATIONSFiled May 14, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 6 FIG 1 T IuvE-NToE.

HERBEKT Wcrog HENDEK 5'00/ Apnl 13, 1965 H. v. HENDERSON 3,177,815

OVERHEAD HAULAGE SYSTEM FOR MINE TUNNEL OR MINE PASSAGE INSTALLATIONSFiled May 14, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN NTME Hens-11' \/IcT0 HEA/nmzsm/9%M/JMm United States Patent 3,177,815 OVERHEAD HAULAGE SYSTEM FOR MINETUN- NEL OR MINE PASSAGE WSTALLA'IIONS Herbert V. Henderson, Germiston,Transvaal, Republic of South Africa, assignor to Anglo-TransvaalConsolidated Investment Qompany Limited, Johannesburg, Transvaal,Republic of South Africa Filed May 14, 1963, Ser. No. 280,203 Claimspriority, application Republic of South Africa,

a Sept. 25, 1962, 62/4346 4 (Ilaims. (Cl. 104-91) This invention relatesto an overhead haulage system particularly for moving material alongunderground mine haulage-ways, stopes and including development ends,tunnels and the like in which tubs must travel to the working face andreturn therefrom, suitably loaded.

Ideally in a haulage system of this type the tubs car rying the oreshould be able to travel in a general clockwise or anti-clockwisedirection on a forward and return track, thus obviating reversingoperations on a single track and branch track to manoeuvre tubs awayfrom and into position adjacent the Working face. While this presents noproblem in wide passageways, it does represent a problem in narrowpassageways such as normal de velopment ends and an object of thisinvention is to provide a haulage system which will enable forward andreturn travel of tubs without reversing and in narrow passageways.

In accordance with this invention there is provided for a haulage systemcomprising a terminal section consisting of parallel forward and returnoverhead tracks connected by a substantially semi-circular tracksection, a train of haulage tubs adapted to be suspended from saidtracks, characterised in that each tub suspension means comprises twolongitudinally spaced running wheel assemblies mounted on the tub, eachassembly carried by a mounting which is rotatable about a vertical axis,the wheel assemblies on each tub and the adjacent wheel assemblies onadjacent tubs, all being spaced along the length of the track distancesless than the diameter of theysemi-circular track section.

According to a further feature of the invention adjacent tubs areconnected together by rigid links connecting adjacent wheel mountings.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a train of four tubs traversing a semi-circulartrack section,

FIG. 2 is an end elevation of a pair of laterally adjacent tubs on aforward and reverse track respectively,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a pair of connected tubs,

FIG. 4 is a sectional end elevation on an enlarged scale showing themethod of suspending the track, and

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of FIG. 4.

The drawings illustrate the application of the invention to a portion ofa haulage system in a development end of normal width, for example, ninefeet.

In this application the tracks may be in the form of I beams 1 indicatedin dotted lines in FIGS. 1 and 2 and secured to the hanging or footWalls in any suitable manner but which are preferably secured to thehanging wall 2 in the manner described below and illustrated in FIGS. 4and 5.

The terminal portion of the track installation which is the portionextending into the development end comprises a forward and return track3, 4 each spaced 2' 2" from the centre line of the development end andconnected at the inner end of the development end by a semicircular orsubstantially semi-circular track section 5 as indicated by the dottedlines in FIG. 1.

The main portion of the track installation outside the 3,l77,3l5Patented Apr. 13, 1965 ice development end may consist of parallelforward and reverse tracks connected to the corresponding forward andreverse tracks in the development end. Alternatively the main portion ofthe track installation may consist of a single track with the terminalportion forming a looped extension thereof. In the latter case the loopof the terminal section must be sufliciently long to carry a completetrain length of tubs 6.

. In order to enable tubs, running in line and having adequate capacitywithout excessive depth, to traverse the curve withoutfouling each otheror the sidewalls, it is necessary that both the suspension and the tubs6 be carefully designed.

The tubs 6 are each of generally rectangular shape in plan, with thecorners rounded on a large radius. The side 7 of each tub facing thecentre line of the development end is substantially vertical, and theside 8 of each tub 6 facing the sidewall is sloped upwardly andoutwardly at an appreciable angle as shownin FIG. 2. The side 8 of eachtub 6 is the discharge side and if desired the slope of the side 8 maybe made sufliciently great so that a miner may avoid contact with thetubs 6 by crouching-against the sidewall 9 even though'the discharge lipIll of each tub 6 runs very closely adjacent the sidewall. p

The ends'of each tub 6 are pivotally attached to the arms of an invertedchannel shaped mounting 11 and in the form of a horizontal beam 12 withdownwardly extending arms 13. The pivots 14 are located above the centreof gravity of the corresponding tub 6 when empty, and below and to theside of the centre of gravity opposite the discharge side 8 of the fullyloaded tubs. By positioning the pivots in this manner the tubs 6 areselftipping and will return to the upright position when the load hasbeen discharged. The tubs 6 are held in the upright position by a latch.

By positioning the pivots 14 and shaping the tubs as described above,the tubs will project a lesser distance towards the centre of thedevelopment end than towards the sidewall-s 9 thus ensuring that therewill be no fouling by laterally adjacent tubs as shown clearly in FIGS.1 and 2.

The latch 15 for each tub 6 is shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3 andcomprises a vertically movable bolt 16 attached at its upper end to alever 17 pivoted to the beam 12. Arms 18 project laterally from the freeend of the lever 17 and the ends of the arm carry rollers 19 or thelike. Normally the weight of the latch assembly holds the bolt 16 in thelower position where it bears against a stop 20 on the tub 6 thuspreventing tipping of the latter. The latch is released to allow fordischarge by the rollers 19 hearing on a ramp or guide rail (not shown)which lifts the arm 18, lever 17 and bolt 16 so that the latter is clearof the stop 20. The inner side of the stop 20 is bevelled so that thereturn swing of the tub 6 will lift the bolt 16 and then allow it tofall and bear against the outer side of the stop 20.

On the top of each beam 12 is a pair of wheel mountings 21 eachrotatable about a vertical axis. On top of each wheel mounting is arunning wheel assembly comprising a bifurcated bracket 22 and carrying apair of inwardly facing running wheels 23 each of which runs on thebottom flange of the I beam tracks 3, 4 or 5.

The wheel mountings 21 of each tub 6 and consequently the pairs ofrunning wheels 23 are equi-distantly spaced on each side of the centreof the tub and the distance between the wheel mountings 21 on each tubis less than the diameter of the track section 5. This enables each tubto traverse the semi-circular track section 5.

It is apparent that the semi-circular track section 5 detines a diameterwhich is actually the distance between the track portions 3 and 4. Thespacing between the wheel mountings 21 must be less than the diameter ofthis semi-circular track section in order to negotiate this arcuatetrack section. It will be apparent that if the wheel mountings arespaced apart a distance which is substantially the same or greater thanthe diameter of the track section, the wheels will jam on the tracksection and it will be impossible to move the tubs around this curvedportion of track. In order to clearly visualize this mode of operationthe portion 12 of the .inverted channel shaped mountings forthe tubswhich extends between the wheel mountings may be thought of as a chordwhich moves along the surface, of a circle defined by the diameter oftrack section 5. It is apparent that'this chord should be of less lengththan the diameter of such a circle in order, to enable the chord tomovealong the circle with the opposite ends thereof in contact with thecircle. It is believed that this explanation clearly indicates thereason why the wheel mountings must be spaced.

a distance less than the diameter of the track section 5.

The adjacent wheel mountings 21 of adjacent tubs 6 are also spacedsubstantially the same distance apart as the wheel mountings on anysingle tub and are held at this spacing by rigid links 24 connectingthem, the inner ends of links 24 being rotatable about the vertical axesof rotation of the corresponding wheel mountings 21. This enables. atrain of tubs to traverse the semi-circular track sections, regardlessas to whether they are being pushed or pulled as shown clearly in FIG.1, which also 7 7 shows the shaping of the tubs necessary to enable themto traverse thesmall radius section 5 without jamming or fouling. V

If it is desired only to pull the tubs 6 then it is not necessary thatrigid links 24 beused, and these may be substituted by chains, forexample. Where the links 24 are used they are in the form of half linksconnected together by pins with the connected ends shaped to maintainhalf links in axial alignment. 2

Where the tubs are pushed by hand they may be moved into position alongone of the straight track sections 3 or 4 for loading adjacent thesemi-circular track 5 and withdrawn along the other straight track.. Ifa locomotive is-used for haulage the same system is not used due to thedifficulty of designing a locomotive which will traverse the smallradius semi-circular track whilemaintaining driving engagement with thetrack. In this case the train of tubs is backed into the development endalong one straight track 3 or 4 so that they run around the curved tracksection 5 and onto the other straight track until the tub next to thelocomotive is on or ad'- jacent the curved section 5 which is theloading zone. The locomotive is then driven to pull the tubs 6 in turnout of the development end and on the same track on which they entered.The tubs may be loaded from either end of the train of tubs.

Since it is desirable that tubs 6 used be of the maximum size inrelation to'the width of the development end it is preferable not tosupport the track by any posts on the sidewalls 9 which would reduce theeifective Width of the development end. For this reason the tracks arepreferably supported by the hanging wall 2.

A method of doing this is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown an invertedchannel 25 is supported from the hanging wall 2 by roof bolts 26 andhassecured to it a pair of angle brackets 27, 28 the one bracket 28being rigidly secured to the channel 25 and the other bracket 27 beingpivotally attached. The lower flanges of the brackets 27, 28 engageunder the top flange 29 of the I beam 1 and are held in position by bolt30. Wooden or other wedges 31, 32 are driven in between the hanging wall1 and web of the channel 25 and also between the bolt and lower edges ofthe flanges of channel 25.

It will be seen that the whole structure is easily erected anddismantled except possibly for the roof bolts 26 depending on the typeused. The structure also allows for changes in inclination of the track.

All dimensions given in this specification are illustrative and notlimitative, however, for maximum effectiveness certain size ratios areimportant. Thus the maximum allowable diameter of the semi-circulartracksection is dependant on the width of the tunnel. The maximum distancebetween the adjacent mountings 21 on the same and adjacent tubs 6 isdependant in tum on the diameter of the semi-circular track section orthe distance between tracks 3, 4 but the distances between mountings 21must not exceed this diameter. On the other hand the greater thedistance the mountings 21 can be spaced apart the greater the possiblelength and accordingly the capacity of the'tubs, but Where the distancesbetween mountings very closely approximates the diameter of thesemi-circular track section jamming will occur. In general it is foundthat best results are obtainable if firstly, the distances betweenadjacent mountings 21 on the same and adjacent tubs 6 are made equal,and secondly, if these distances are more than sixty percent andpreferably more than eighty percentof the diameter of the semicirculartrack'section 5. Thus in the specific examples given the diameter of thesemi-circular track section is fifty-two inches and the distance betweenmountings Zl is forty-five inches or approximately eighty six percent ofthe track diameter. 7 Y

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A haulage system comprising a terminal track section consisting ofparallel forward and return overhead tracks and a substantiallysemi-circular track connecting said forward and return tracks, saidsemi-circular track including a diameter which substantially representsthe distance between the adjacent portions of the forward and returnoverhead tracks, a train of haulage tubs suspended from said tracks, twolongitudinally spaced running wheel assemblies for. each tub and runningon said terminal track section, a beam located over each tub andextending in a longitudinal direction relative thereto, arms projectingdownwardly from the ends of the beam and being pivotally connected tothe corresponding end of an associated tub to allow for tipping of thelatter, apair of mountings supported on each of said beams, saidmountings being longitudinally spaced from one another and beingrotatable about a vertical axis, one of said running wheel assembliesbeing supported on each of said mountings, link means connectingadjacent mounttings on adjacent beams, the pair of mountings on each tuband the adjacent mountings on adjacent tubs being Reterences Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 466,601 1/92 Drew 154 X 870,363 11/07Henning 105M2 917,331 4/09 Magdiel 104-91 1,033,395 7/12 Harrington 104111 1,131,748 3/15 Stuebner 294-73 1,725,264 8/29 Garnett 105-1561,794,089 2/31 Muller 104--91 2,824,913 2/58 Taylor.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

JAMES S. SHANK, LEO QUACKENBUSH, EUGENE G. BOTZ, Examiners.

1. A HAULAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING A TERMINAL TRACK SECTION CONSISTING OFPARALLEL FORWARD AND RETURN OVERHEAD TRACKS AND A SUBSTANTIALLYSEMI-CIRCULAR TRACK CONNECTING SAID FORWARD AND RETURN TRACKS, SAIDSEMI-CIRCULAR TRACK INCLUDING A DIAMETER WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY REPRESENTSTHE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE ADJACENT PORTIONS OF THE FORWARD AND RETURNOVERHEAD TRACKS, A TRAIN OF HAULAGE TUBS SUSPENDED FROM SAID TRACKS, TWOLONGITUDINALLY SPACED RUNNING WHEEL ASSEMBLIES FOR EACH TUB AND RUNNINGON SAID TERMINAL TRACK SECTION, A BEAM LOCATED OVER EACH TUB ANDEXTENDING IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION RELATIVE THERETO, ARMS PROJECTINGDOWNWARDLY FROM THE ENDS OF THE BEAM AND BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TOTHE CORRESPONDING END OF AN ASSOCIATED TUB TO ALLOW FOR TIPPING OF THELATTER, A PAIR OF MOUNTINGS SUPPORTED ON EACH OF SAID BEAMS, SAIDMOUNTINGS BEING LONGITUDINALLY SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER AND BEINGROTATABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS, ON OF SAID RUNNING WHEEL ASSEMBLIESBEING SUPPORTED ON EACH OF SAID MOUNTINGS, LINK MEANS CONNECTINGADJACENT MOUNTINGS ON ADJACENT BEAMS, THE PAIR OF MOUNTINGS ON EACH TUBAND THE ADJACENT MOUNTINGS ON ADJACENT TUBS BEING SPACED APART DISTANCESWHICH ARE LESS THAN THE SAID DIAMETER OF THE SUBSTANTIALLY SEMI-CIRCULARTRACK SECTION.